Masayoshi Ohira

Masayoshi Ohira (12 March 1910-12 June 1980) was Prime Minister of Japan from 7 December 1978 to 12 June 1980, succeeding Takeo Fukuda and preceding Masayoshi Ito. He was a member of the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan.

Biography
Masayoshi Ohira was born in Kan'onji, Kagawa Prefecture, Japan in 1910, and he attended Hitotsubashi University. He became involved with Liberal Democratic Party of Japan politics, and he served as Kakuei Tanaka's Foreign Minister until 1974 and then as Finance Minister afterwards. In 1978, he became President of the LDP, and he successfully pushed Takeo Fukuda from his position as Prime Minister in 1978, becoming the new PM; he became the sixth Christian (he was Anglican) to serve as Prime Minister. In 1980, he was ousted in a vote of no confidence, and he was given the option of either resigning or calling new elections. A visibly shaken Ohira called for new elections, and he would be hospitalized for exhaustion on 31 May before dying of a massive heart attack 12 days later. The LDP capitalized on the sympathy votes following Ohira's death, winning a large majority in Parliament.